“My daughter became a Mormon nine months ago” — A Mother’s Ache for a Lost Child

The depth a parent will go to find a lost child. The pain, guilt, and desperation dominate our thoughts and emotions.

But what if the lost child is living in your own home?

Letters we receive from Christian parents whose children have turned to the false teachings of Mormonism breaks our hearts. Filled with anguish, they reach out to us for prayer, hope, and encouragement. And it seems that the vast majority of these conversions have come through dating relationships. A good example is a letter we received this past week;

“To whom it may concern,

My daughter, who will be 21 in February, was raised in a strong Christian home and was a leader in our High School department and a worship leader in High School and for our main church services. She has gone three times on mission trips through our church. Her senior year she started dating a Mormon. She hung around her Mormon friend and her gay friend and we thought they were just hanging out – the 3 amigos.

To make a long story short she became a Mormon nine months ago just prior to this boy going on his 2 year mission. She is a star struck girl and his family, ward, bishop and friends have all enveloped her into their church. The idea of being married for eternity to the one you love is quite a dream.

She has always been a girl of high morals and has never drank or had sex. Unfortunately, I feel that the whole appearance and works aspect has enticed her along with this boy and his family.

My husband has done extensive study on what the Mormon Church believes and he presented this to my daughter to no avail. He has read how to “Speak the Truth in Love to Mormons” and we have decided to just love her and she continues to live with us.

Many times she’ll be discussing something that was brought up at work and she’ll tell us what she said and we will say, “You know that is not what the Mormons believe.” In her mind she believes that Jesus died for her sins and she is saved by grace. So now her beliefs are intermixed with what she is being taught.

She doesn’t truly know what they believe and they only indoctrinate you a little at a time. She may be leaving for Salt Lake in January to some community college that promises an Associate degree in 2 years owned and run by the Mormon Church. We are not funding this but she has told us that there is plenty of money available for new converts.

We have released her to God and pray for his Holy Spirit to be at work in her life and that he will do whatever it takes to get her out of Mormonism. We choose to love her no matter what just as we would love her if she was a lesbian or a drug addict etc.

Keep her in your prayers please. She has been such a good kid and a blessing to us as a daughter. Keep us also in prayer also that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in how and when and what to say in the future as the opportunity arises. Thank you.”

To comfort, encourage, and to pray for her, we are reminded of a story Jesus told; He said,

“Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Won’t he leave the 99 in the open country? Won’t he go and look for the one lost sheep until he finds it? When he finds it, he will joyfully put it on his shoulders and go home. Then he will call his friends and neighbors together. He will say, ‘Be joyful with me. I have found my lost sheep.’” (Luke 15:3-6)

We can pray for this daughter along with many others like her:

“My Shepherd LORD, Thank you for searching for Your lost sheep. Thank you for not turning Your back. Just as You never give up on me, let me not give up praying for her lost daughter and those like her. May her love for You be restored. May Your Word that’s been planted in her heart since birth shine the light of truth on what she is now being taught in Mormonism. May she see Your truth. Give her the courage and strength to walk away from any relationship that takes her away from You. And give comfort, encouragement, and hope to her parents – let them know that You love their daughter even more than they do and will never give up on her. LORD, do this for all parents who have children who have strayed from You – You are the only One that can bring peace and be that refuge of hopefulness.”

This letter and prayer appeared our weekly prayer alerts at Truth in Love Ministry. If you would like to receive requests like this, please subscribe to be a part of the Truth in Love Ministry prayer family by clicking here.

11 Comments on ““My daughter became a Mormon nine months ago” — A Mother’s Ache for a Lost Child”

Thank you, Dave, for that heartwarming encouragement. I can surely relate to this mom’s pain although the details are different. It is so hard not to become discouraged when I SEE no answers to my many prayers but reading this blog is a huge help. It is a tool of the Holy Spirit to bring comfort and ENcouragement to me and to many others I am sure. Thank you for a wonderful start to my day.

As a former mormon and now born again Christian, I have a difficult time understanding how Christian parents let their children “hang out” with mormons and not know what is going on. Mormons are taught missionary dating and purposely engage in it. Now if your child has been innoculated in what mormonism teaches and what eternal marriage means, then that is different. Eternal marriage is the way Satan tries to de-throne the Creator of the universe.

Thank you, Edy. I agree that its hard to be a discerning parent. From all the stories I receive of adult children becoming Mormon — so often it’s out of love. Parents often become the most ardent supporters of Truth in Love Ministry. My hope and prayer that this story can be a message of concern and warning.

Quite often, a young man [or woman] will “fall in love” with a Mormon girl. Because of his love for the girl, he will start attending Mormon church, be loved by the Mormon family, and slowly get indoctrinated into the culture and teachings of the LDS Church.

Certainly the Christian (boy or girl) will be deceived into thinking they are “in love” with the mormon, but what do teenagers know about love? The mormons are taught to engage in missionary dating which to an attention starved Christian child (yes they exist quite a lot) the mormon attention is like rain on parched soil.. And the Christian loves it, especially at a time when their human nature is in rebellion against their parents authority (whether covert or overt).

Very ardent mormon teenagers are taught in their early morning seminary classes (either overtly or covertly) to date non-mormons in a missionary outreach to bring non-mormons (Christians) into the mormon church by friendshipping them and engaging them in mormon youth activities. It is part of the mormon “every member a missionary” outreach. I have never formally goggled it, but I know personally that it has been taught and reformulated for every new generation. It is a snare for gullible youth and perhaps disinterested or uninformed parents.

I’m taken back by your comments as a “former” Mormon because you are spewing false information about what Mormon’s believe! You say that Eternal Marriage is their belief to dethrone God. What?? I have NEVER heard that one! Totally false information. Sounds like you are just saying that to spread false information, which is what a lot people do without really looking into the religion and what is believed. Mormons basic belief system is a solid, unwavering belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to redeem the world and take their sins upon Him so that we can be forgiven. It is not a religion of force but of love and embracing. People that are against it, do not understand it and feel threatened by distorted and totally false information. Grateful for a God that is over all of us and we will all stand before him one day to be judged for our actions and the way we lived!

Thank you, Susie, for dropping by and submitting your comment. I would agree that it’s important to have a firm understanding of LDS teaching before comparing it. For this reason, I utilize the lds.org website and refer consistently to True to the Faith – an LDS publication. In fact, I have put together a dictionary of common terms used by the LDS Church in an attempt to compare it to Biblical Christianity. http://tilm.org/dictionary/ I have had about a dozen Mormon missionaries visit my home and even proofread my understanding. To me, the biggest difference is that Mormons believe they CAN be forgiven by carrying out a process of repentance. Biblical Christians believe they ARE forgiven — right now — because of trusting in what Christ has already done for them. I love Mormons! And it is out of love and respect for you that I would like to point out what the gospel really teaches about salvation and Christ is.